


The Wrong Thing

by Raptorik



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-13
Updated: 2016-04-13
Packaged: 2018-06-02 00:38:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6543349
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raptorik/pseuds/Raptorik
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Arc V 30 Day Challenge, prompt 5: Uniform - Because the color of the thing clashed with Reiji's eyes, anyway.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Wrong Thing

Shun grips the yellow fabric so hard that his hands shake.

There is nothing right about this, nothing in any of the existing dimensions that could possibly calm his racing heart or churning stomach. He's fought tooth and talon to get here, following ideals that aren't even his own, and now it's all being thrown back in his face.

"Where is Ruri?" he repeats.

His captive doesn't respond, doesn't even blink.

"Answer my question, you traitorous bastard!"

For a solid thirty seconds more, the only sound Shun can hear is his own breathing, rapid and heavy, as it echoes oh-so-slightly against the stone walls of the corridor. Finally, the man he has pinned against the wall snaps out of whatever fit he's been in.

Violet eyes meet their opposite.

"Your sister is dead, or somewhere near it," Reiji Akaba tells him again.

Shun spits in his face.

"Stop _lying to me_ ," he hisses, slamming Reiji against the wall with every syllable. "There's no way your father would go through all that damn trouble only to kill her. _No way._ So stop trying to cover it up and just tell me where the girls are _or you will be sorry._ "

Reiji makes no move to resist as his body is jerked back and forth. After the tenth time his head comes into contact with the wall, he loses his footing, and Shun is the only thing holding him up.

"She's dead," he repeats, once Shun has stopped shaking him. "The project is complete – and her sacrifice has been made. There is no turning back the clock. As humans, we have the power to cut through space... but time is another mystery altogether. I... I'm sorry."

"No you're fucking _not_ ." Shun can barely hold it together as the full brunt of the truth slams into his gut. He releases the lapels of Reiji's uniform and crumples to the ground, struggling to calm his own mind as it races further and further away from his control. "Ruri... Ruri didn't do _anything_ wrong, and... and you and your sick family just..."

Reiji, now on the ground, looks at him with those bleary eyes, unreadable as ever before. "I _am_ sorry," he repeats, his voice wavering oddly. Shun isn't sure if it's because he's fucked up from the concussion he definitely has now, or if it's something else altogether. "I wish... I had answers. But I don't, and there is no way to stop my father, even if I had wanted to. I feel like... maybe, in another life, I would have tried to put an end to his plans, but..." He pauses for a moment, and for the first time, Shun sees pure, unmistakable confusion in every feature of the man's face.

"But _what,_ asshole?"

"But... I've been... here, right? Fighting with him all along? Because anything else would have been futile. He trained me well, so... I think... this is right, isn't it?"

In that moment, Shun realizes his mistake. "Fuck."

Reiji leans back against the wall, too weak to even let out a proper groan of pain. And, even though he's shaking, Shun forces himself to crawl forward and catch the man before he can fall. He, too, leans against the same wall, sitting there for a minute or two with Reiji's head resting on his shoulder. When Reiji can finally speak again, his voice is weak and his words are stuttered, betraying a damage far worse than anything Shun could have done to him in their scuffle. And, even though Shun knows this, it doesn't make him feel any better about the blood that's flowing freely from Reiji's nose.

"H-have I done the wrong thing?"

Shun swallows the lump in his throat, thankful that his companion can't see the tears welling in his eyes. "No. You haven't," he lies, because Reiji was, after all, the one among them who had been two steps ahead, fighting their battles before they could even realize what was happening around them.

"I'm glad."

Shun isn't sure of the exact moment Reiji stops breathing, because his own choked sobs are the only thing he can hear. All he can see are the bodies of his comrades, those from Heartland as well as those poor, innocent children from Standard, and his sister's face, and three other girls identical to her, and countless others all at the same time, and now Reiji. His life has been nothing but _death_ since he can remember, and now the blood is on his own hands – literally, gleaming red and reeking of filthy metal in the cramped hallway – and the only person to step up and accept him as a comrade despite his track record of shitty choices is dead weight against his shoulder.

Of course Leo Akaba wasn't above fucking with his own son's mind. Reiji, brainwashed and devoid of a good chunk of memories, had been sent to intercept the team of Lancers he had so painstakingly built across the boundaries of their dimensions. And now, here he is, dead at the hands of one of his own men.

It is perfect and disgusting and Shun fell for it far too easily in his fury.

The sounds of battle are nearing, the stone beneath his fingertips trembling from whatever's happening downstairs. Shun knows he can't sit here forever; to do so would be an insult to Reiji – to _his friend._ He knows he can't stop until he confirms with his own two eyes that Ruri isn't coming home with him.

He's weak and nauseous from the emotions welling inside him, but he does what he can. Gingerly, he slips an arm around the body beside him, holding it in place so that he can remove the hideous uniform that obscures the deep, familiar blue of his last friend's favorite sweater.

Reiji deserves better than to rest in the garb his enemies have forced upon him, after all.


End file.
